To say that I was excited to open this box, is probably an understatement. December is the last month of the year, but it is also such a festive, makeup oriented month that it provides such an excellent opportunity for gorgeous beauty boxes and appropriate products inside.

I’ve opened the Look Fantastic box first as always, since it is the first one to arrive anyways. Look Fantastic is known for their beautifully designed boxes and so I was expecting a gorgeous looking box for December.

The box definitely did not disappoint. It is dark blue with silver letters on top reading “Beauty in Wonderland”. It is simple but yet quite expensive and elegant looking. I love how it ties in with the Look Fantastic Beauty Advent Calendar that also has a Beauty in Wonderland theme. I love that they are using a Wonderland as a theme for the Christmas festivities instead of straight out Christmas. Not everyone has the same beliefs and so it is very refreshing to see that they respect those who might not see Christmas in the same way.

There is usually a quote inside, at the back of the lid, but this month it was a picture instead. It is the same print/picture that they used on their Beauty in Wonderland Advent Calendar and I must say it is very beautiful. It looks amazing and it ties so nicely with the calendar. If you missed out my review on their calendar check out “Let’s talk about Beauty Advent Calendars. Look Fantastic vs Estée Lauder and others”.

The box came as always with a travel size, full edition of the ELLE magazine which is amazing value for money and also the monthly Beauty magazine that comes with the box.

Unfortunately, the products contained were disappointing to me. Not because they were not good but because they did not fit the Wonderland/Christmas/December theme. Creating a December box is such an amazing opportunity to include glitter and colourful makeup, maybe some eye lashes, a nice red lipstick and a golden eye shadow palette or highlighter. Such an opportunity that I feel was lost. If I was making the box, I’d even include a satchel of a hot chocolate, maybe even a travel size of those glitter/gold primers etc. What a fun makeup opportunity lost…

Anyhow, the products were actually good so let’s get to them. The box included 6 products as normal and of course as I mentioned above, a small Beauty magazine and a travel size, full version of ELLE magazine. It is an amazing value for money regardless of whether the products fit the theme or not.

From left to right, the products were: a moisturiser, a lipstick, an anti-ageing cream, a hand cream, a bath bomb and an exfoliating paste.

Let’s dive in a little more deeply into how each product performed after a week’s use. Bear in mind that these are my personal opinions and as beauty is a very personal thing, we all have different skin, beauty requirements and biological build which can influence things. What worked for me might not work for you and vice versa. If you tried any of these please leave your comments below!

Figs and Rouge Hydra Activ Smart Nutrient Day Cream

I have tried this product a couple of times now and gone through a few tubes. I first received this in a Glossybox as the very beginning of the year and I also got a full size of it in the Cohorted September 2017.

It smells a bit like coconut, it feels very hydrating and gets absorbed quickly and fully by the skin. It doesn’t leave any residues behind and although it says it is for “normal to combination skin”, it works for oily skin too. Although, I must say it does make you a little shiny perhaps not because it adds oils itself, but it just doesn’t control the oils you produce.

This is a travel size of only 20mL but incase you are curious to try it out the full size 50mL cream retails for £28 which is worth it considering it’s ingredients. There are other creams for that price or even higher that do not have that many nourishing ingredients inside.

The only problem with Figs & Rouge products is that they are not very easily accessible to buy as you won’t find them in standard beauty shops or in many places online. SCORE = 10/10

MDMFlow Matte Lipstick in Colour Bossy

When I saw that there is a lipstick in the box, I hoped it would be a nice red or pink, something to save the December festivities theme. Unfortunately, it was a brown colour that actually didn’t look that intriguing to begin with.

The packaging is nice, I love the bullet look and the golden colour. However, there are some signs on it that give you a hint that this might not be a very expensive product. For example, the golden bullet has patches on it where the colour is more faded than others. It looks like after a couple of uses or taking with in a handbag, it might not look as nice anymore.

Either way, the actual lipstick is gorgeous and I am in love with it. Even though it is not the colour I expected for this month, and even though the brown bullet doesn’t look as warm as other browns, it is all very deceiving! When this lipstick is on the lips it looks absolutely G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. Even my partner noticed and believe me, men are not into brown lipsticks. For an interesting article on men and lipstick colours check out “Exploring the red lipstick effect. Does it really attract men?”.

The brown is so natural looking, if my lips had a brown tint instead of a pinky-red one, this would be it. It almost looks perfectly natural. I am very pale, so don’t be afraid to try it if you are pale too. Remember that it looks darker as a bullet and even on the swatch. Your lips have colour already so it won’t be that coloured on them. It really does look very natural on the lips and I think it would suit a large array of skin tones.

The lipstick doesn’t smell or taste of anything. It survives meals and drinks, although it doesn’t come off and fade but your lips won’t look naked after a meal or a drink. I can’t say it feels particularly hydrating but neither drying. I wish it came with its outer box so I can judge its ingredients and give it an extra mark for any nourishing compounds.

It retails for £15 which I think is an acceptable price for it. It puts it right in the same ball mark as the Urban Decay lipsticks, although I’m afraid I’d have to say the Urban Decay lipsticks are slightly better.

I personally think its wrongly named. A light, natural brown shouldn’t be called Bossy. There is nothing bossy about a naturally looking colour. I’d call Bossy a nice deep red or a strong pink, which is also what I expected in this month’s box.

Anyhow, still a great lipstick and I am glad to have it. I will definitely be using it until its out. SCORE = 8/10

Gatineau Anti-Aging Serum

It’s never too early to start anti-ageing skin care. Skin care is all about prevention, after you get those wrinkles there isn’t much you can do. You can maybe reduce them but they will never go away again.

As a result, this is a product that is very welcome in my collection. It smells really girly, like typical cosmetic creams but it is very pleasant. It almost makes you want to use it just for the smell.

It feels super hydrating on the skin and it gets absorbed quickly and fully. It doesn’t leave any oily residues behind and the skin feels softer and smoother. I can’t say that I saw any anti-ageing effects but that’s absolutely fine. Anti-ageing skin care takes weeks to months to make a difference so it doesn’t mean that this one doesn’t work.

However, the small sample size of this means that I will never really know if it works for me or not, unless I buy it and try it out for a longer period of time. If I could see the ingredients contained, I’d be able to decide whether its worth buying or not but unfortunately, it didn’t come with its outer box. I could of course find the ingredients online but sometimes the formulations change and it is always best to check what the box of the product says.

I really love the smell of it. SCORE = 8/10

Polaar Genuine Lapland Hand Cream

Well atleast the red colour on the outer tube makes it look a little Christmassy. Also the fact that it is from Polaar and it contains arctic berries helps. Not exactly what I had in mind for a festive box but it is nevertheless not as random as some of the other products.

So far, I loved every Polaar product I’ve tried and this one also. The cream feels very hydrating and gets absorbed by the skin fully. It leaves the skin nicely moisturised but it smells a little off to me. It’s not a bad smell but nowhere near as nice as the anti-ageing cream above.

The tube is very “soft” and easy to bend which means that this product is not very durable if you just throw it in your handbag. Make sure to put it in a little makeup bag perhaps, to avoid any unexpected squeezing!

It is free from parabens, alcohols and mineral oils. The ingredients are not amazingly nourishing, they are fairly standard, with the exception of the arctic berries, but it works. SCORE = 8/10

Bubblet Limited Edition Beauty in Wonderland Bath Fizzer

I’m always honest in my reviews and so I have to tell you that I didn’t use this product. I haven’t had any time to relax and take a bubble bath this week. Shameful, I know. We should all take more bubble baths than we do. I agree.

Anyhow, I’m looking forward to trying this out on the weekend or during the holidays with a nice glass of hot chocolate or wine!

I think the idea of including this is really lovely and this is one of the few products that actually fit the theme of the box. I love that Bubblet did a limited edition just for the Beauty in Wonderland Look Fantastic theme.

It contains blueberry and grape infusions and is suitable for all skin types. It only contains 7 ingredients, so it’s formulation is super simple so don’t expect miracles from this. It is SLS, SLES and paraben free.

Looking forward to it!

Suki Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser

This exfoliator looks very cheap, if I’m honest. The branding is very simple, the packaging is super cheap but the product smells gorgeous so I had high hopes. It has a strong smell of lemon which makes sense as it contains lemongrass and natural sugar.

It is an all natural exfoliator, a thick paste, that is safe for all skin types, even sensitive skin.

It does exfoliate nicely and leaves the skin feeling and smelling refreshed. However, there isn’t much foaming going on, I saw perhaps 3 bubbles, so I don’t know why it is called that. It doesn’t need to be anyways, exfoliators are not often foamy!

Again, I wish I could see the ingredients but it came without it’s outer packaging. I didn’t feel particularly wowed by this but I didn’t think it was a bad product either. SCORE = 6/10

Overall, I loved the box design and that they kept the same theme as in their advent calendar. However, only, perhaps, 2 products contained fit the theme and so it was highly disappointing. Not only because, once again, here’s another beauty box that doesn’t follow it’s theme but also specifically, this theme had so much gorgeous make up potential that it was such a great shame to waste it. Flicking thought the Beauty magazine that came with this month’s box actually annoyed me even further as they included 4 pages on “Christmas gift guide” and all the makeup shown there was spot on for the theme. Clearly, we agree on what items fit theme, but yet they didn’t include any of them in this box. Look at how nice those Christmas products look and then compare it to the ones included in this box. The initial box feelings vs product testing score is a great indication of the fact that the products were good, just didn’t fit this months theme!

Star product = There were a few 8/10 products but I will give this to the MDMFlow Matte Lipstick in Colour Bossy. I was pleasantly surprised with this lipstick, especially with how gorgeous the colour is.

Did you get this month’s Look Fantastic box? What did your box contain? What did you think of the products? Have you tried any of the products listed? Let me know your experiences!

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